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Show SIRUR BLIND BOYS FINISHING BASKETS Notice the cart, which is really a large basket. The tall baskets are used for grain also day of the baptism, though he had wept almost continuously for two days previously, he accompanied his father on the six-mile walk from Karda to Sirur, and the painful good-by took place on the outskirts of the town. Chokoba's steadfastness is the more remarkable and the son's grief the more natural from the fact that this baptism has taken place in the sacred month of Bhadrapad, a month dedicated to the propitiation of deceased ancestors and the most sacred month in the whole of the Mahar year. It was a joyful congregation that filled the mission church for the baptismal service. The converted guru who was about to swear fealty to the Great Teacher had earlier in the day handed over to me all his papers. One contained his family pedigree, another gave the full list of eighty-four villages under his sway, while yet others contained the records of important disputes he had settled. Just before the service he finally divested himself of his sacred thread, a threefold cord which he had worn as symbol of his priestly authority. And what a service it was! The singing itself was a benediction. A brief exposition of regeneration from the story of Nicodemus led up to the pointed questions which every adult convert from heathenism must be asked. All these were answered in tones of decisive assent. If any one doubts the living power of Christianity, let him attend the baptismal service of a heathen convert; it is worth crossing the oceans to witness. One of the best aspects of this case is what my joyful evangelist Sudoba tells me. This morning three Hindus called on the convert, whom they asked, "And have you become a Christian?" His answer was: "All my life I've been seeking light and peace; seeking, seeking, seeking, but never finding. Now I have found." Ours is the joy of harvest. Others have labored and we enter into their labors. One soweth and another reapeth. 17 |